This new cultivar is the product of a long standing program of hybridization and selection of big-bracted dogwoods, in this instance the result of an open-pollination event of an unnamed pink-bracted Cornus kousa tree held in the germplasm collection at a New Jersey university. The purpose of the program was to develop new and superior cultivars of dogwoods expressing consistently dark-pink floral bracts that are cold hardy in New Jersey and similar climates. The seed parent of this new cultivar is a pink-bracted, unreleased breeding selection designated as K187-44 which resulted from a cross of Cornus kousa ‘Satomi’ and C. kousa ‘Benifuji’ made in 1996 by Dr. Elwin Orton. The male (pollen) parent is unknown but from a limited breeding block of improved dogwood trees existing in an isolated area. The progeny from which the plant in question was selected were analyzed for their differences and outstanding value as potential commercial cultivars.
We selected the particular seedling hereof from certain progeny grown in a cultivated area, and as a result, have in turn caused the same to be asexually reproduced by budding, grafting, and micropropagation (plant tissue culture). The reproduction and actual growth and selection of the new cultivar took place in the vicinity of New Brunswick, N.J. The claimed cultivar is stable and reproducible true-to-type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
As will be understood from the detailed description of the invention which appears hereinafter, the new cultivar is in fact outstanding and readily identified as being such. With the foregoing in mind, the description which follows will be understood as clearly defining the new cultivar, the desirable characteristics of which are the result of such a program as has been heretofore stated.